Kentucky guard Zan Payne enters name in transfer portal

Just a couple of hours before the midnight deadline, Zan Payne entered his name into the transfer portal.

The Kentucky Wildcats’ walk-on guard and son of new Louisville head coach, Kenny Payne, has decided to look elsewhere for his final year of college eligibility. Zan Payne came to UK ahead of the 2018-19 season out of Lexington Catholic and has been with the team ever since. He sat out in 2019-20 due to a knee injury he suffered during his final year of high school.

Over the course of nine games this past season, the 6-foot-4 redshirt junior registered eight points, two rebounds, and one steal. Payne played a total of 11 games as a Wildcat over his career.

Zan Payne has entered the Transfer Portal

Awesome kid. Loved having him at UK and a great teammate

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 2, 2022

During this past season, Payne was best known for making Kentucky fans a lot of money against Mount St. Mary’s.

The Zan Payne cover game was one of the most random fun UK Basketball moments of the last few years

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 2, 2022

Steal and the score for Zan💨

Let’s gooo, @young_payne2321! pic.twitter.com/Qj9HmjLrtj

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) November 17, 2021

I wonder where he’ll end up…

Below is more on Payne, via UK Athletics.

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High School

A highly-productive player out of Lexington Catholic High School … 1,000-point scorer for the Knights … Averaged 19.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game as a senior … Three-year starter and scored 1,282 career points, which ranks 14th all-time in program history … Also collected 934 career rebounds and finished his career as the school’s fourth all-time career leader in rebounds … A knee injury in February of his senior season prematurely ended his career.

Personal

Born March 23 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey … First name is Alexander but goes by Zan … Parents are Kenny and Michelle Payne … Father, Kenny, was a former UK assistant from 2011-20 and current head coach of the Louisville men’s basketball program … Has a sister, Alexis …  Graduated with an undergraduate degree in communication in August of 2021 … Is now pursuing an undergraduate certificate in business and economics … Father played basketball at Louisville … Enjoys playing Fortnite when he’s not on the court … Lists a definition of a true hero as someone who always does the right thing … His dad has had the greatest influence on his life.